Overhead catenary suspension construction for transmitting electricity to vehicles



Dec. 4, 1923. 7

J. I. COMLY OVERHEAD CATENARY SUSPENSION CONSTRUCTION FOR TRANSMITTING ELECTRICITY T0 VEHICLES Original Filed Oct. '7, 1916 m mwm I I v 75177651 C 02 79 Patented Dec. 4, 1923 JAMES. I. COMLY, or HannrsBUn-e, rnnnsrnvnnrn. Y

OVERHEAD carnnnny susrnnsron consrnuorron Application filed. October 7,1916, Seria1 No. 12e-,229.--Renewed A lin so, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES L. CoMLY, a citizen of therUnited States, residing at Harrisburg, county of Dauphin, andJState of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Overhead Catenary' Suspension Constructions for Transmitting Electricity to Vehicles, of which the followingis a ,full, clear,v and exact description,

reference being had .to the accompanyingdrawings, which forma part of this specification. a My invention relates to overhead wlre con struction for the transmission of electricity between the source 'of supply and moving apparatus used .as a means of contact therewith for the purpose of diverting the electricity betweerrthe wires and moving vehicles. l c. Y r

It particularly relates to wire construe: tion for the supplying of electric energy to electricmotor omnibuses or vehicles which receive their power from overhead wires '(sometimes termedv electric trolley omnibuses) which are :not operated upon or guided by rails or tracks and consequently require a metallic circuit iii-the overhead wire construction which, when direct current is used, has two conductor wires each. insulated from the other, a moving means at contact withboth said conductor wires, and flexible connection between such movable means of contact and the vehicle which permits the vehicle to travel along the road on either side of, as well as directly under, the overhead wire construction without inter fering with the contact with either of the overhead conductor wires; but my invention may be used in conjunction with electrically propelled vehicles which are operated on tracks.

The conditions to be met'and the purpose of my invention may be, more clearly "cite plained by a'briet description of the com is composed of two'halves, each of which" same wire; -Those two: halvesa're rigidly' taining a section of'straininsulating ma terial to prevent short circuiting.* Another. means of making moving contact with the two overhead'conductor wires is by sliding contactors insulated between the distribution contact wires. 7 T f e I i x a It is obvious, therefore; that, in order to insure simultaneous and continuous contact with both of the overhead conductor wires, it is necessary that they be maintained e ut distant from each other-throughout their entire length and practically level with each other at each point along'the line.

I I roarnansmrrrrne ELEC; rnrcrrrao vnnronns. q 1

carries the two wheels which run upon the= .joined to each other by a cross piece con- To maintain those requisite conditions the recognized tendency of different wires 'of thesame material, when of the character of metal used for conductors, to sagunevenly from change of temperature and from their own weight when used in spans of considerable length, must necessarily be reasonably controlled, and its disadvantageous effect practically overcome.--

The. appliance f for moving contact is customarily operated as overrunning or underrunning. When underru'nning'it is held inpositionressed against the wires by means of a tro ley pole attached to "the vehicle and swiveled at both ends to permit the vehicle to travel to one side of'the line of overhead wires. When overrunning, a conductor wire trom each of its 'halves', with' insulated covering, is carried to the vehi'cle permittino-v it latitude of operation on i the road while the appliance of contact moves along and remains upon the wires. 7 we It is obvious, therefore, that the overhead wire-construction is required at times to sustain more or less lateral pull from the vehicles.

make an overhead wire construction for the transmission of electricity in which the conductin wires shall be held in uniform relations ip with each other throughout their entire length to permita'regular and continuous contact with each of the conducting wires simultaneously by moving apparatus The main object'of my invention is to 1 used as a means of diverting the electricity between the wires and the vehicles; and which shall be staunch and strong to sustain matelyi rigid resistance to thetendency to.

house to and from the vehicle to be pro,

the weight of apparatus used for such contact (when the same shall be whatiis known] as the overrunning trolleys) in additionuto the 'weight of accumulations of ice and; snow; and'whi-ch, by reasonot its form and construction, shall maintain an approxiswayfrom the force of wind or lateral'pull from the vehicles when running to one side of the line of the overhead wire construc;

tion; and which at the same time shall minimize the tensile-strain .upon theconducting wires, minimizeland equally distribute the sagthereln flIlCln'lll'llIIllZB then necessary size and cost.

A preferredembodiment of the invention is shown" in the drawings, in which? Fig. 1 1s a-diagrammat c side view of one Fig. 4: is a; section through the upper end of one bar of'therhangery Fig. '5 is a side viewiof" the'immediate support for the service wire;

7 Thetwo messenger or catenary wires or cablesb, b eXtendbetween supports fromv poles a and sustain-the two trolleyor service or distribution{contactwires 0, c by means of the hangers hereinafter, described. The

construction of the hangers is such asto accomplish the objectssought and also to convey the electriccurrent between the mes,

sengerwires and supported wires; it being understood that the currentfrom the power pelled passes through the messenger wires, hangers and supported wires, thereby, as in other catenary systems, permitting. the employment of copper wire of relatively small cross-section for the suspended conductors.

Ordinarily, the system involves the passage of the current fr'omthe source ofelectric energy to positive conductor 'wireand' one messenger wire, and may pass from the messenger wire 7 through the hangers to one supported conductor wire,thence through a trolley wheel or wheels and-conductorlto one pole of the motor carried by the vehicle, thence from the otherpole of the motor. carried by the vehicle, through another conductor andtrolley wheel to the other supported conductor wire, rand; thence as well through the hangers and ot-herniessenger wire to the.

source of electric energy. My invention contemplates the employment of this system, but iais also equally adaptable to the system in which the hangers areso constructed that one conductor wire is insulated fromthe other wiresso that the current from the source passes through the. other supported conductor wire and both messenger r Wires-while; the return circuit. is made through the other supported wire and car'- ried to ground'at intervals along the line of road.

Thehanger comprises a rigid frame which I is, made in twoipartsonhalves, each part composed of an upright bar cl having two horizontal branches 6, c, the lower end of the, r l

bar d-being curved inward and upward to form asupporting arm m having at its end a threadedprojectionfm, Opposing branches 6 of the two bars cl are connected together by'means of blocks f'of strain insulating, ,material, thereby forming. two rigid] cross 7 bars betweenthe two uprightbars and servthe other half. i V

The bars d are supportedffromr the: mes V ,senger. wires 5 in the following manner.. The upperendof each barrl iswidert-toform a seat whichis dovetailed to receive a cap it, the-cap being slid uponthe seatin thedirection of extension of themessenger. wire. The cap and seat are p-rovidedwitha- V complementary recesses to formwacavity r of greater diameter than the messenger WIPE/Q0 V and end openings'j or" justsufii'cient diameter to permit the messenger wirewto extend; therethrough. The caphisprovidedwwith:

an orifice is through which ianyzi suitab-1e'.-. binding metal may be poured to fill the space in the cavity 2' surroun dingthe: messenger wire, whereby the hanger is held in fixed relation to thewire andithe'maintenance of electrical contact between them insureds The wires 0 arei supported'upon the in wardly and upwardlycurved ends mt of the bars d in the following manner Oneach, threaded projection n isscrewed a cap 1 0 carrying a plate 17 (seeFig'. 5). :extending 1 5 in the direction of extensionof the wire '0.

Another plate 8 is secured against the plate 4"; the upper ends of both plates, adjacent to 7 their upper edges, being of a contour adapted to receive and hold the wire V c.

VVire-supporting means of this construction are known in the art.

In the construction described, the electric";

current passes from one wire I) through one half the hanger to one wire 0, while the return current passes from theother wire c through the other-half of the hanger to the other wire Z), this construction being adapted where'an all-metalcircuit is employed. The invention, however, is not limited in its applicat on toa case where the two wires 0 perform identical functions,

The moving device by which contact isfl made with the overhead wire construction; 7 and throughwhich-the current is carried between the wires 0 and the-vehicle, is repre 1 sented on Figure 3' asthe'overrunning type of double trolleys shown by the two-wheeled trolley to running upon the wires 0 which may be of any approved construction, as the sameforms no part of the lIIVGIItlOH'SaVG as ing to insulate one half of the hanger from the same may be an element of a combination claimed,the two wheels of course being insulated from one another.

The current may be taken fromonei wire' c and returned to the otherwlre c by means 7 of the contact of overrunning trolley wheels w held in a frame or carrier and insulated from each other as shown on Figure 3. But

the invention is not limited to use with overrunnin trolley Wheels.

By tIle foregoing construction, the messenger wires and trolley wires will be-bound and held in a rigid relation with each other,

by the hangers at short distances apart, and

the two trolley wires will be spaced and held at a practically uniform and unvarymg distance from each other throughout their entire length by the same meanspthus permitting continuous and simultaneous contact with both conductor Wires by the trolleys or other means for making moving contact. The several hangers-between any two poles or supports will be made of different heights so that with a given calculated sag in the messenger wires each trolley wire will be maintained throughout its length at or near the same level with each other at each point I with each other at any given point.

along the line and approximately parallel with the grade of the ground. This result is secured with the greatest practical length of spans between poles. By reason of the.

form and nature of the construction arising from the holding of all of the members with practical rigidity in separate and fixed posi-,

tion from each other at each hanger point, forminga compound lateral truss, the tendency to swaying of the wires i greatly re duced and indeed almost entirely eliminated, the tendency to sag in the conductor wires is minimized and equally distributed, and whether or not there is a variation of level in the two conductor or trolley wires at different points in the span to conform with the'grade of the ground, the two conductor wires will be maintained at the same level In addition to supporting the conductor or service wires, the catenary or messenger wires or cables and the hangers may also be used to support feeder or other wires or safety shield or guards.

Having now fully described my invention,

protect by Letters tach ed to the catenary members and the working conductors by attaching means provided onthe hanger. and .arrangedtransversely with the hanger and in line withthe I catenary members and working conductors, and the attaching aneans .-by which .two of the plural catenary membersandtwo of the supported working conductors are atlixed to the spacer hanger being apart from each other and positioned-in relation to each other as the angle points of a quadrangle, and similar rigid spacer hangers provided with quadrangularly positioned attaching means and attached to the catenary members and the working conductorsand spaced at inter-i vals within the span along the line of way between the supports and the upper two of the quadrangularly positioned attaching means of the difi'erenthangers varying in height abovethe lower two in conformity with the sag of'the catenaries and the attaching means of the hangers with the work ing conductors positioned uniformly for presenting theworking conductors inparallel relationship, substantially asdescribed.

i 2111 an overhead construction for the transmission of electricity through traveling contactors to and from moving vehicles, the combination of a traveling contact holder carrying plural contactors electrically insulated from each other, poles disposed along the line of way, supports extending from the poles, spans extending along the line of way and mechanically affixed to and electrically insulated from the supports and consisting of plural catenary supporting members and. plural parallel supported working conductors positioned below and supported from I the catenary members" at points within the spans'and a spacer hanger located within the span betweenthe points of support and arranged transversely with and attached to the catenary members and the working conductors and providedwith attaching means n arranged. transversely with the hanger and in line with the catenary members and.

"working conductors, the attaching'means by which two of the plural catenary mem- I bers and two of the supported working cone ductors are aiiixed to the spacer hanger bemg apart from each other and positioned-in relation to each other as the angle points of a quadrangle, the said spacer hanger having upright sides, upper andlower cross'brac mg for rigidly bracing the sides to and with each'other at positions near their-upper and lower ends, and the hanger having a space contactor holder, strain resisting material for physically connecting and electricall insulating parts of the hanger from each other, and similar rigid spacer hangers provided with insulation and withquadrangu-Y larly positioned attaching means, spaced at,

between the lower ends of the sides and the 7 lower cross bracing the P s of the intervals Within the span and having the the attaching means for the Working eonducto'rs positioned uniformly for presenting V the working conductors-in parallel- ,relationship for c0-0perati0n 'withrthe plurahcoxb tasters carried by the traveling Contact holder. 7 r Z w .9 In testimony of which invention, I -ha veg herennto; set my hand, Philadm, Penna. 'Qn this 5th day'qf October, 1916.

JAMES 1; om ly 

